Representatives of southeast cities told redistricting officials during a hearing hosted in Whittier last week that they want to stay together due to the similarity in demographics of the people living in those cities.

Some of the speakers were officials from cities like Bell Gardens and the City of Commerce who weighed in on maps of proposed political districts released June 10.

Officials from Bell Gardens were concerned their city was excluded from a district of southeast cities on the commission’s proposed Congressional district map.

Instead, Bell Gardens has been grouped with cities with slightly more affluent populations. “We’re very concerned. We have been informed we will be split up in the Congressional map, all the southeast cities, and be paired up with cities that we really don’t have anything of common interest. Our communities have had a tradition of working together for many years on issues of common interests… to split us up would be detrimental to our communities,” said Bell Gardens Mayor Jennifer Rodriguez, who identified herself at the meeting as a resident.

Rodriguez said the southeast cities are Cudahy, Commerce, Bell Gardens, Bell, Lynwood, and Maywood. “We need to be part of cities that again we can relate to, both socially, economically, and demographically. So please do consider that when making your final decision,” she said.

The commission’s deadline for completing the redistricting maps is August 15, 2011.

Rodriguez added that the southeast cities have worked together on public safety and transportation issues, such as the projects on the 710 Freeway, the Long Beach corridor and the Alameda Corrdors, “so there is a good partnership there and we would hate to see that partnership divided so please do reconsider.”

Bell Gardens Councilman Sergio Infanzon told EGP prior to the meeting that together with other southeast cities they are able to work on getting social programs and funding to deal with issues such as sending their youth to college, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, and gang activity.

The residents of Bell Gardens will have less representation on these matters if they are grouped with people who care less about these matters, he said.

Commerce Mayor Joe Aguilar also spoke during the meeting in favor of including Bell Gardens, advocating for keeping all the southeast cities within one political district.

He described the residents of Commerce as “mainly Hispanic, blue collar workers.” Their city also has a “large number of employees in surrounding southeast communities with jobs that are related to manufacturing and warehousing,” he said.

Their residents are also impacted by the pollution that comes from the transportation corridors that surround the city, including the I-710 and the I-5 freeways, and the presence of two railyards, he said.

The redistricting commission’s draft Congressional district map “will greatly diminish voting clout of [residents in] the city,” he said, adding that all the maps, including the state Senate and Assembly district maps should keep Commerce together with “other communities with interests that are more relevant and responsive to our community.”

The hearing was held June 17 at Wray Theater of Rio Hondo College in Whittier and a video of it can be viewed online at http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov.

Comments can also be submitted through email to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, by fax at (916) 651-5711, or by mail to the Citizens Redistricting Commission, 901 P Street, Suite 154-A, Suite 101, Sacramento, CA 95814. The deadline to provide comment is Tuesday, June 28.

Knabe and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky recommended funding the $3.5 million program, which they said would create opportunities for at least 2,200 economically disadvantaged county youth, including those in foster care, on probation or receiving welfare from the state or county.

“The unemployment rate among young people is staggering,” Knabe said. “Hopefully, we can provide more opportunities for young people to learn skills, build confidence and develop work experience that will benefit them for a lifetime.”

Over the past five years, the county has created jobs for almost 17,000 young people through similar jobs programs.

The Los Angeles City Council voted yesterday to confirm two of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s nominee to fill open seats on the board of the city’s housing authority, which oversees public housing.

The Los Angeles Housing Authority, mostly funded with federal dollars, has been in disarray since the ouster of its chief, Rudolf Montiel, in March and the May resignation of the board’s president, Beatriz Stotzer, who is under investigation by the district attorney and federal Housing and Urban Development authorities.

On Tuesday morning, The Los Angeles Right to Housing Collective protested in from of City Hall on Tuesday and demanded that Mayor Villaraigosa call off his appointments to the city’s housing authority, and that he include housing tenants in the appointment process. (EGP photo by Gloria Angelina Castillo)

The council unanimously confirmed the appointment of Kimberly Freeman and Dennis Hernandez, who will serve four-year terms on the board. Commission members—all of whom are nominated by the mayor—are paid $50 per meeting.

The confirmation of a third nominee, Mitchell Kamin, was put off until the Ethics Commission could finish a conflict of interest investigation, which it does on all new city commissioners.

Several council members quizzed the nominees about how they would pick the Housing Authority’s next chief.

“This is a real opportunity to find the best and brightest in the country, a real thought leader, that can have HACLA be the model for the nation, taking into account all the concerns of the residents,” Hernandez said.

Asked by Councilman Jose Huizar about what the new board members would do to improve the board’s oversight of the Housing Authority, Hernandez said: “I think we do need to address the issue of ethics.

Freeman has been the director of community relations for the Southern California Gas Co. for the past 10 years and is an adjunct public policy professor at the University of Southern California.

Hernandez is an attorney with the law firm Luna & Glushon.

The council did not take up the nomination of Isabel Ayala, a Ramona Gardens public housing resident since 1961. No explanation was immediately available from the mayor’s office, but according to Sarah Hamilton, the Mayor’s press aide, he has not rescinded any of his nominees.

On Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles Right to Housing Collective denounced the mayor’s “rushed” nomination of new HACLA commissioners.

The collective, which includes tenants of public and Section 8 housing, said the mayor’s staff lied to them when they said he would consider a list of nominations proposed by public housing stakeholders.

Steve Diaz of the Los Angeles Community Action Network said a Villaraigosa staffer told him no new housing authority commissioners would be appointed until ongoing investigations wrapped up. But just a day later, the mayor announced his nominees on June 9.

Pamela Walls of the same group said she was “disgusted at the lowdown, dirty backdoor politics of the mayor.” She said “the housing collective’s opinions and list of qualified candidates have been totally ignored.”

(EGPNews) Long-time immigration rights activist Nativo Lopez pleaded guilty on Wednesday to voter registration fraud after a judge said jury selection would begin without further delay, according to the District Attorney’s office. His trial was scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

After pleading guilty, Lopez, 59, a resident of Santa Ana, was immediately sentenced by Judge William C. Ryan to three years probation and was ordered to complete 400 hours of community service.

Seven additional felony counts, including perjury, filing a false instrument and fraudulent voting, were dismissed, according to the district attorney’s office.

Lopez was charged with using leased office space in Boyle Heights to register to vote in 2006, although he lived with his family in Orange County. He was also charged with casting an illegal ballot in L.A. in the 2008 presidential primary.

Lopez is the president of the Mexican American Political Association and Hermandad Mexicana Nacional. Both groups advocate on behalf of undocumented immigrants. Last year,however, Lopez was highly criticized by fellow community activists when he called on Latinos to boycott the 2010 US Census unless immigration reform was passed.

The case was delayed several times because Lopez’s competency to stand trial was called in to question when he refused to identify himself to the court, and demanded to be able to defend himself rather then use an attorney. He was ordered to undergo three psychiatric evaluations. In April, a judge ruled he was competent to stand trial.

(EGPNews) The former pastor of Iglesia Luterana San Pedro y Pablo, a Lutheran Church frequented by Hispanics in Bell Gardens, is accused of sexually abusing children almost immediately from the time he arrived at the church in 1990, according to a law firm representing the alleged victims.

In lawsuits filed Wednesday, Lutheran Pastor Frank Brundige is accused by three un-named former church members of abusing them from 1990 until 2007. In 2007 he was arrested and convicted of molesting children, according to a press release.

Anthony DeMarco, an attorney affiliated with Jeff Anderson & Associates who represent the victims, says church officials received multiple complaints as early as 1991 but Lutheran Church officials ignored the complaints and warning and instead attempted to silence victims and witnesses.

A total of 8 young men have filed civil lawsuits accusing Brundige of sexually molesting them as children and claim that as early as 1991 Church officials knew of Brundige’s routine sleepovers with young boys one at a time and did nothing to discourage the practice.

(EGPNews) Monterey Park Police officials are warning residents that con artists have already bilked one local resident out of $5,000, and may be looking for more victims.

Police say on June 8 a local resident was approached by a male in the parking lot of the Shun Fat Supermarket on N. Atlantic Blvd, who said he was looking for the nearest church so he could deliver over $90,000 in cash. The suspect allegedly showed the victim a bag containing the cash and the victim agreed to transport the suspect to a church on S. Atlantic Blvd.

Upon arriving at the church, a second suspect convinced the victim to give him “good faith” money in exchange for the large amount of cash under the premise that he could distribute the money to more local churches. The victim withdrew money from his bank account and was later also convinced to give up his jewelry, only to receive nothing in the end.

The first suspect was described as a black male, 50 to 55 years old, 6’ tall, 200 lbs, black hair and brown eyes. The second suspect was described as a male Hispanic, 45 to 50 years old, 5’ 06” and 180 lbs. Both suspects wore jeans.

Citizens are reminded that if it sounds too good to be true, then most likely it is not true.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Monterey Park Detective Bureau at (626) 307-1242.

(EGPNews) Zachary Weiss, a math instructor at Luther Burbank Learning Complex, Pamela Chirichigno, who teaches multiple subjects at Buchanan Street MST/Magnet Elementary School, Terry Little, a 4th-grade teacher at Ascot Avenue Elementary School, and Joyce Hsin, who leads the Mandarin Chinese- English Dual Language Program at City Terrace Elementary School, have been selected as “Teacher of the Year” (TOY) along with 10 other educators across the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
The award-winning educators have been recognized for their outstanding and creative teaching, according to LAUSD. They now qualify for the for the 2011-2012 L.A. County Teacher of the Year competition, which is part of the California and National Teachers of the Year programs.